Imagine Us Happy
by Yotsubadancesintherain5
Summary: The differing reactions of those that were captured.
1. See No Evil

Useless information spun in Louis' head endlessly. An ice cream parlor with lollipops bigger than his head, comic books long since abandoned, and a toy piano that played with twinkly, childish notes.

They were banished by the searing pain, the texture of the knife slicing through his tongue, Aasim's horrified, muffled screams, Omar's retching, and the primal thought, _Blood, blood, blood, it's everywhere, fuck, I'm going to choke_-

Then there wasn't much to think about. The numb, phantom feeling of where his tongue was supposed to be, and the blood that dried around his mouth in tacky flakes.

And then there was something to think about because _Clem_ came to rescue them, and walker piñatas and potato-hearts danced around in his mind, and he smiled but all it did was make her say his name in a heartbreaking voice.

Some sardonic part of him thought it was a shame, that she would never leave him tongue-tied again – physically, anyway.

Lilly's presence was enough for him to back away into that safe corner and Clementine was undeterred by her, but maybe Clementine had no idea of what Lilly was capable of, and Louis shivered uncontrollably.

The horses took them away from the wreck of the ship, and Louis could only make unintelligible protests, and Violet was his anchor, soothing in her own way.

"Lou, I swear to God I'll go back for them, don't do any stupid shit," she said over and over, all in different words but the same meaning, and it didn't stop his panic.

Snow up in the mountains. The basket of toys at the dentist. The Disco Broccoli theme song, when he and Marlon did stupid versions of the lyrics and that cold realization that it would never happen again.

The school was in sight, Violet was the first to jump off the cart, and she ran into the woods and finally a part of Louis was calmed. Ruby got to him, took a single look, and hauled him off to the nurse's office.

There wasn't much she could do – just care for that area with what she had on hand – and when she was done she looked at him and fell forward to hug him tight.

"Christ, Lou," she said, "You got – while we were having a _party_ – God, I'm so sorry."

He wasn't sure what to say and then thought, _dumbass, you can't say it anyway_.

Like she read his mind Ruby drew back and rubbed her eyes and cheeks of her tears.

"We can, I'm sure Willy can find it," she said, "There has to be some posters, or books, on sign language around here. When Clem, AJ, Vi, and Tennessee come back they can help us find them."

Louis nodded and offered up a smile, for Ruby's medical help and what hope she presented to him. It was enough to keep the useless information away.

Now all he could imagine, hope, was to see them come back and Clem would smile again.


	2. Speak No Evil

Ruby lead Violet to the nurse's office, lead her to a seat and gently began cleaning her eyes, a delicate procedure that made Violet think about the painful things to get her mind off the physical pain.

Being blown off a ship because of a fucking _homemade bomb_ was the weirdest prologue to putting things in perspective. Violet and Minnie had rushed to take the bomb out, to stop this, but Minnie wasn't hurt. Violet couldn't see but she could hear the screams, "No, get off of her!" and had that freezing realization that Minnie could _see_.

Why wasn't she hurt by the bomb? Wasn't she just as close? Where the hell did Minerva go?

Violet had been scrambling in the water, pulled by a walker and Clem came to the rescue, just as she always did. She brought a goddamn makeshift Calvary, armed with crossbows, knives, and a bomb.

And Violet was so angry – I want to go to the Grand Canyon, I let you see me for just a brief moment, and we gazed up at the stars up above, you _kissed_ me, didn't that mean anything to you - that she shoved Clementine away and didn't give a shit anymore.

Clem was so goddamn _stubborn_, wasn't she? But that was a good thing, Violet wondered, because she never stopped trying to get them all back. She fucking _understood_ why Violet was angry, for God's sake.

Christ, her grandma was right. Teenagers lived their lives in fucking italics.

Of course her grandma would sweetly pat her head and say, "Little Violet, don't swear," and God if she didn't miss that woman with her entire heart on particularly hard days.

"I think I've salvaged one of your eyes," Ruby said, breaking Violet out of her thoughts, and all she could see was a red and green blob. "What do you see, Vi?"

"Just shapes. Good thing walkers look like shit, right?"

She got a tight hug for her answer. Violet wondered when was the last time that she got genuine human contact like this, and it was when Clem kissed her so quick their top teeth nearly clacked together.

Could that happen again? Violet found a pinch in her heart that she didn't mind – hell, she _wanted _that.

"Louis went out to collect Clem, AJ and Tenn," Ruby said, "So don't worry about them, okay, Violet?"

Violet realized then that she would have to depend on everyone, now. It was something unfamiliar, and she thought numbly then that Clem didn't always have that safety net. Maybe on that night she thought she would get lucky and save all of them.

"I won't," Violet said, "Even though it's Louis."

Ruby laughed, and dammit, Violet loved all of them. It was something that had been buried by Lilly's lies and she brought it up and wouldn't forget.

She had to depend on hope that they would all come back. People left her, slow and painful and visceral.

Clem always came back.

**A/N: Orginally posted on AO3 on May 2 2019 to May 5 2019**


End file.
